Coaxial cable is characterized by having an inner conductor, an outer conductor, and an insulator between the inner and outer conductors. The inner conductor may be hollow or solid. At the end of coaxial cable, a connector is attached to allow for mechanical and electrical coupling of the coaxial cable.
Connectors for coaxial cables have been used throughout the coaxial cable industry for a number of years. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,533 (Rauwolf) describes a connector for coaxial cables having hollow inner conductors. U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,636 (Vaccaro et al.) describes a connector for coaxial cables having helically corrugated outer conductors. U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,470 (Doles) describes a connector for coaxial cables having hollow and helically corrugated inner conductors. U.S. Pat. No. 4,046,451 (Juds et al.) describes a connector for coaxial cables having annularly corrugated outer conductors and plain cylindrical inner conductors. U.S. Pat. No. 3,291,895 (Van Dyke) describes a connector for cables having helically corrugated outer conductors and hollow, helically corrugated inner conductors.
A connector for a coaxial cable having a helically corrugated outer conductor and a hollow, plain cylindrical inner conductor is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,199,061 (Johnson et al.). The Johnson patent describes a self-tapping connector for the inner conductor of a coaxial cable. Such connectors are time-consuming to install and expensive to manufacture. Also, when the inner connector is made of brass, overtightening causes the threads to strip off the connector rather than the end portion of the inner conductor of the cable, and thus the connector must be replaced.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,745 (Booth) describes a connector for coaxial cables having a corrugated outer conductor. The Booth patent discloses a connector which utilizes a nut member which has a longitudinally slotted generally cylindrical barrel portion defining a number of barrel segments or fingers. The inner surfaces of the barrel segments or fingers are flat, so as to define a composite inner barrel surface which is hexagonal. A tapered bushing or inner surface of the connector engages the outer surface of the barrel and deforms the fingers defined by the slots of the barrel into contact with the corrugated outer conductor.
Therefore, there is a continuing need for improved high performance coaxial cable connectors that are easy and fast to install and un-install, particularly under field conditions; are pre-assembled into one piece connectors, so that the possibility of dropping and losing small parts, misplacing O-rings, damaging or improperly lubricating O-rings, or other assembly errors in the field is minimized; is installed and removed without the use of any special tools; and is efficiently and economically manufactured.